For a market which is generally flooded with retro 8 and 16-bit titles, I’m surprised that there aren’t more JRPG’s. The 90s console market provided a seemingly endless supply of them, and I couldn’t see a more well-suited fit for the Xbox Indie Channel. The smashing success of Zeboyd Games’ Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Save The World has at least shown there certainly is a market for the genre.
Then along comes Bonded Realities, which although is a JRPG in the traditional sense, offers a more simplified and streamlined experience than BoD or CSTW. The comedic approach is clearly visible as well, and the developer does an excellent job with delivering the chuckles when necessary. Although I found the battle system to be simple at best, the charismatic enemies with their laughable attacks had me looking forward to each battle. Along my adventure I fought fearlessly against a wooden-plank-wielding beaver donning a construction hat, a pink, one-eyed, analog telephone and a spring wearing a hat made of sheep’s wool. This is just a taste of what you’re in for.
Furthermore, the art style is simple as well, resembling that of a Sunday paper comic strip, although it fits the tone of the title. The environments are diverse, however, ultimately allowing me to traverse a desert landscape, wooded kingdom with a castle and a child daycare center, all within the first 30 minutes of playtime. The animations are limited to only2 or 3 frames during battle sequences, and mostly show an enemy’s action or reaction based on the attack used.
Players will be sure to notice a few minor annoying nuances with the UI and inventory system as well. Each character is limited in the amount of items he or she can carry at one time, therefore you must go through the cumbersome experience of inventory management, as well as remembering who has what item. Why not just have one unified inventory?
At one point I ran across a bug that caused my healing items to somehow vanish from my inventory after being killed by a boss. The only way to guarantee I’d preserve them was to load my last save, but of course that could only be done by quitting the game completely and re-launching it from the Xbox Live Dashboard. While this annoyance may seem trivial, I had to experience it 8 times because my character had a difficult time connecting with the a boss. At times the whole thing felt like a crap shoot that I eventually lucked out on. Finally, JRPG developers take note: the days of not including an in-game map are over; there is nothing worse than backtracking through a zone because you aren’t sure if you had been there before.
For the first outing by developer Red Crest Studios, I’d say things are looking good. The game oozes with charisma and offered great comedic value – especially in the battle sequences – which is something I would love to see more of in the future. For those of you who are looking to get their nostalgic JRPG fix, Bonded Realities may very well suit the bill. Despite some minor nuances with the UI, it is an overall solid experience, and provides a memorable story reminiscent of childhood adventures.
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Bonded Realities was provided for review by Red Crest Studios. It is available for 80 MS points ($1).
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